Canandaigua Woodville report

[dremarquis]

My buddy and I fished out of Woodville Sunday for eight hours. We ran six lines the whole time and did everything I could think of… From Riggers to planer boards to Dipsy divers with flashers. We started out shallow, then we went deep. we went halfway down the lake. we worked both sides. We ran every color and every size of sticks and spoons and we never got a hit the entire day!. We marked a few scattered fish Throughout the column but could not find any concentrations. And we never saw any bait at all!. I was flabbergasted. I’m interested in your reactions and comments, thanks, Andre

 

 

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[Double-D]

I was out there as well from 7am till 2pm ran 6 lines as well and tried spoons,peanuts,jplugs,spinners and double jointed rapalas and got nothing as well. Started from woodville and ran to Bristol harbor and back a couple times.


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[cdgn troller]

Welcome to Canandaigua Lake! You should of went the next day, did everything the same and probably would of caught fish. That lake is on fire one day and stone cold the next!

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[Sk8man]

One of the guys my son and I know who is an accomplished fisherman was out a few days ago and trolled all day with nothing to show for it. As cdgn troller noted the lake can be very fickle. With that said the lake is also changing like some of the other Finger Lakes (e.g Seneca) and maybe for different reasons when you look at the specifics. Some things are worth noting however such as the surface temperature of the lake was 38.2 -39.4 yesterday wherever we went while perch fishing and going from place to place out deeper as well. This suggests that fish will not be congregating in any warmer water whether vertically or horizontally finding warmer water anyplace so bait and fish are probably spread out all over the place so you won't see a whole lot on the screen and many will be hugging bottom because it is still 39 degrees or so down there and they may be more difficult to see on a depth finder. Canandaigua Lake is a major "rainbow" lake in terms of targeting and those fish are usually hard to find this time of year as many of the spawners are in the streams still or in transit back to the lake and unavailable to trollers. Brown Trout especially the larger ones are often in the shallows and even shallower than folks may be trolling and bottom oriented feeding on "whatever" they find or at night as the bait isn't in yet or congregated. The patterning for the Finger Lakes and Canandaigua in particular is quite different than Lake O at this time of the year where browns are all over the place and even more surface oriented. The water temps need to come up a bit before the action kicks into gear. The increased clarity of the water is also a factor for many species. There are certainly fewer fish of many species out there than in the past for a lot of reasons and not the huge hoards of bait extending from the bottom to surface in 100 ft or more of water in evidence.. Just my take on it.....

Edited April 12, 2019 by Sk8man

[dremarquis]

thanks for your wise counsel Les!

dre

[Trouthunter]

The fish are here just have to put the time in .

 

[Ray4852]

 This is a tough lake to fish this time of year.  where do you find the warmist water right now. I can  go out tomorrow and run up this lake with one pass and come back and get the other ones I missed. I won't catch a lot but enough to keep my boat from smelling like a skunk. if you get that skunk smell in your boat. its tough to get rid of it. this is not a easy lake to fish.

[Ray4852]

Sk8man,

you make a nice out door writer. you made a lot of good points but you make fishing to complictated for me. I agree this is a nice rainbow lake with a few browns but I think the Lake trout is still the bread and butter fish. Laker numbers are way down compared to what we had here 30 years ago. our weather the past month has been terrible. cold front after cold front with high wind. a cold front pushes fish down and makes them very hard to catch. you can still catch them but you won't get a lot.  

[Sk8man]

Sorry if I over complicated things for you Ray I'm basically a long time fisherman rather than an outdoor writer per se. I know I get into detail often (and may even get mired in it sometimes) but my main purpose for postings is aimed at helping out people that are either unfamiliar with the Finger Lakes or inexperienced fishing for trout  and salmon(or both). After about 70 years of doing this stuff I figured it may be worthwhile trying to give back a little to the sport since many or most of the old timers had the approach of "Hey I had to learn this stuff by myself so I'm not spoon feeding anyone" and I had to acquire most of whatever I know at this point by trial and error or the mutual experience sharing with buddies so the learning curve has been pretty steep.

I agree that things out here on Canandaigua have changed radically since I first started fishing the lake itself in about 1967 after fishing the creek before that. There are some big Lake Trout in the lake still but they are not as readily available as in the past or in as great numbers. The bait situation is also different. In the past at the south end in particular back in the 70's and 80's there would be huge pods of bait the size of a football field horizontally and extending over a hundred feet vertically from bottom to surface in the Spring. I haven't seen this or anything close to it for many years. There used to be huge pods of rainbow smelt in the lake and in the creeks in the Spring...they are now pretty much gone....

I have collected data for the DEC Angler Diary cooperators for a long time and on the most recent report one or two fishermen accounted for most of the laker data. I spoke with one of them an old timer in his eighties who uses mostly Seth Green rigs and jerks copper and he agreed with this view and noted that you really have to know the lake very well these days to be real successful. When you combine this with the fact that many of the guys now fishing the lakes are using downriggers, wire rigs, planer boards etc. spending much time fishing "suspended" and not necessarily "bottom fishing" or stillfishing with bait etc. the catch probabilities change and not for the better as far as Lakers go but it does more effectively target rainbows. Most people don't fish specifically for browns here and although an occasional brown is caught trolling it is not necessarily the best way to catch them. They are heavily nocturnal and the big ones are found in closer to shore than most trollers go in the early hours and retreat to deeper water and nearer bottom as the light grows strong. When properly targeted using the right stuff in the right way they can be fairly effectively caught on a more consistent basis. Sorry for being long winded but I figured it as an opportunity to explain things a bit clearer (hopefully).

Edited April 19, 2019 by Sk8man

[Ray4852]

your 70, im 66. I think we both know what when on here 50 years ago. I ask hows the fishing today they told me go to the white rock its been pretty good. that's the information I got years ago. it was all trial and error.  life is common sense. the more complicated you make life the harder to live it. I like it simple. when I meant by the warmer water fish the bottom of the lake. that's were you will find them right now. after all these colds fronts we have had this month, they are glued to the bottom. forget your fancy sonar you wont see them. you have to know something about the lake to catch them. you wont find it in a book. you have to get out and fish and learn the lake. this takes time.  good fishing lately, you might get your limit at the white rock. you get it now lol

Edited April 19, 2019 by Ray4852

[Sk8man]

Just a minor clarification Ray.....I was fishing before you were born That is 70 years of fishing as of July 3rd of this year All in all we're both dinosaurs I still remember the first fish I caught as well as the date....a 12 inch smallmouth caught at the Seneca Lake Yacht Club bay near the entrance to the Seneca River (on a crab) with my dad July 3rd 1949. I can still picture that fish and the day itself in my mind after all these years and thousands of other fish. It is an example of how important that first exposure to fishing is for kids especially when with their dad or mom etc. and something for the parents out there to think about

Edited April 20, 2019 by Sk8man

[Pequod1]

you Are an old fart!

[Fishstix]

Try the smallest silver suttons they make trolled on top. Slowly.

Its amazing what those little trebles will hold.

[Sk8man]

Thanks Jim and like we used to say as kids "Takes one to know one"

[Ray4852]

70 years of fishing. God bless you. I hope you can stay healthy and fish 70 more years.  not many men last that long fishing out of a boat Today. I think we should meet up someday and talk about the past years that went on during the Seneca lake fishery. today a lot different compared to what we had to go thru to learn how fish this lake. those old timers back in those days were a different breed. That old system was better. it weeded out the bad ones and the stronger ones survived. much better system compared to what we have today. why do you think our country is going to the dogs because people have it to easy.  I think your about 73 lol.

[Sk8man]

[linemankj]

Keep going Sk8man good advice for us novices! 53 years fishing here first fish rockbass off grandfather's dock on racquets river

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[Gator]

You guys just let me know when it's time to buy the rocking chairs and where to put them . Until then, make sure I get up-to-date reports...

[Sk8man]

Good one Keith.....some of the guys you hang with may need one too.....you know who I mean

[linemankj]

Age and wisdom outweighs youth and exuberance

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[gasman2438]

I have my rocking chair on the boat right where you will find me when I am gone .  fishing on Seneca and the fingers lakes my whole life I am 66 and a OLD FART. WE DON'T CATCH A LOT OF FISH BUT WE EATE WELL AND HAVE FUN.

[PCPete]

I for one as a younger folk have benefited greatly from Sk8mans information and experience over the years on this forum. I very much enjoy how detailed your posts are (long or not) and they always contain all the information I need to get started trying something new. I very much appreciate you giving back to the community in this way and hope to teach all I have learned to my new son born May 1st 2019.


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[Sk8man]

Thanks guys and PCPete that will be a wonderful gift all the way around... congrats in advance. Nothing like parenthood. I got my son into fishing at age 2 1/2 starting with brief exposures. He has been my fishing partner ever since and in fact outfished me tonight with 8 keeper Crappies to my 2 throwbacks

[Frogger]

I think you give this guy Sk8man too much credit, it’s not like he’d give the shirt off his back to help anyone on here or out on the water, or I would bet if you ever had a chance to see him in action, probably can’t catch a perch or laker to save his life, probably makes his own lures with googlie eyes that don’t catch fish, heck I betcha if it were 20 mph winds during a derby he’d throw in the towel cause he couldn’t keep his lines in the water to catch the winning fish, he might even tell you he has so much history on the Finger Lakes he’s going to come out with a book. Question I have is, when is it coming out? I wanna copy lol. You sir are one of the Legends of the FL. Those who haven’t met him, go out of your way to meet him, whether on here or at the dock. You’ll be glad you did.


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[Fishstix]

I hope Skateopedia doesn't put his book online.We do not need people reading their phones and driving their boat..

{Now showing my age]